A total of 118 people died in Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019 including 21 Hindus, the Central government said on Wednesday while responding to a written question in the Rajya Sabha that the security situation in the Union Territory has improved.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the House that terrorist incidents have come down significantly. He said among the 118 people killed in 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370, five are Kashmiri Pandits, 16 people include Sikhs, Hindus and others.

Advertisement

As many as 5,502 Kashmiri Pandits have been given jobs in the state government, of which no Kashmiri Pandit has migrated since 2019.

The minister said the policy of the Center has been zero tolerance towards terrorism in the state. The security situation in the state has improved. Terrorist attacks have decreased. It has come down from 417 in 2018 to 229 in 2021.

The Union Minister informed that 128 security forces personnel and 118 civilians have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir from 5 August 2019 to 9 July 2022. No pilgrim was killed during this period. Apart from this, the questions asked how many Kashmiri Pandits living in the country were resettled after August 2019.

He said under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP), the Jammu and Kashmir Government has given jobs on a large scale in the Valley. No Kashmiri Pandit migrated during the said period.

Responding to another question, Rai said during the last few months, there have been two incidents of attacks on Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir. One was injured and another died in the attacks.

Therefore, the central government is adopting all measures for the security of the minorities in the Valley. It has a strong security cordon which monitors the population. Active operations against terrorists, tight vigil at all points including sensitive ones, besides deployment of road safety check parties at strategically important police stations to thwart terrorist attacks, however, are selective.

He also informed that from 2018 till June 30 this year, 108 civilians were attacked in the Union Territory. The government has clarified that the data collected for the census is not made public. The data are also not used for the National Register of Citizens and any other database.

The minister said that the census to be held in 2021 has been postponed till further orders due to the corona epidemic. He said that the personal data collected in the Census under the Census Act, 1948, is protected under the Act. They cannot be made public. The individual data is not used for the National Register of Citizens and any other database. Only consolidated census data is released.

Rai said the census to be held in the coming times will be the first digital census. A provision has also been made for the convenience of the people. Mobile App of the data and census portal has been developed for efficient maintenance and monitoring of various census related activities.